Community Forum: “Relationships with Children Matter” Recap

March 26, 2015

The third segment of our “What Matters Most” Community Forum was held on March 24^th at the Chapman Cultural Center. We were delighted that over 45 parents, childcare teachers, and local educators took the time to come and learn about how effective teacher-child interactions are an active and crucial ingredient for children’s social and academic development.

Our keynote speaker was Sedra Spano, M. ED., a Regional Director at Teachstone where she works with states in the southeast regarding their use of the CLASS and CLASS-based professional development. Sedra explained to the audience how research using the CLASS Assessment provides compelling evidence about the nature of teacher-child interaction in ECE settings and the ways in which these interactions promote children’s social and academic development.

The 4 overarching conclusions emerging from this research are:

• Effective teacher-child interactions are an active and crucial ingredient for children’s social and academic development
• Children in ECE settings are not consistently exposed to effective teacher-child interactions
• To maximize the impact for children, quality improvement efforts need to focus explicitly on teacher-child interactions
• Carefully designed and implements professional development support can improve the quality of teacher-child interactions

Following Sedra’s talk, she was joined by a panel of early childhood experts including Dawn Huntley (Strategic Innovations, CEO); Leigh Kale D’Amico, Ph.D. (University of South Carolina, College of Education Assistant Professor); and Terry Pruitt, Ph.D. (Spartanburg County School District 7, Deputy Superintendent); for a lively discussion about why effective interactions between children and their teachers matter and make a difference.

Thank you so much to our keynote speaker and panel participants for sharing their time and knowledge of Early Childhood Development with us. And a special thank you to the community members who made time to hear about “what matters most” in the development of their children’s lives!

Numbers that are Hard to Ignore: Nurse-Family Partnership highlighted in The Atlantic

February 16, 2015

This month we’d like to shine the spot light on the Nurse-Family Partnership and the work they’re doing in our community.

The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a free, voluntary program that partners first-time mothers with a specially trained nurse who makes home visits throughout the first-time mom’s pregnancy until the baby turns 2 years old. During their visits, the nurse offers guidance from pre-natal care and nutrition to breastfeeding to teaching new mothers about early childhood milestones. They also mentor the mothers, encouraging them to follow their goals, whether it’s staying in school or finding better paying jobs.

Here in Spartanburg County, we house the NFP site of Spartanburg and Union Counties. To date, 437 mothers have been assisted and 313 babies have been born since the site opened in April 2009. The program works to help new mothers gain the confidence they need to strive for better lives for their children and themselves, which ultimately creates a better Spartanburg.

We aren’t the only ones who think the NFP is doing big things.

Last month, The Atlantic ran an article in their Health section titled “How Nurses Can Help Low-Income Mothers and Kids” by Nancy Cook, which featured a profile of Spartanburg resident and first-time mom Camille Wallace and her nurse home-visitor Lisa Corkren. In the article, NFP is referred to as a “lifeline” for the new mom who made her feel “empowered to take care of [her] child [her]self.”

According to the article, new moms aren’t the only group the NFP is helping. Research is showing that the program is good for communities as well: “… an analysis done by Rand in 2005 showed that NFP’s interventions with high-risk families can save society as much as $34,000 for every child involved.” These are numbers that are hard to ignore.

We encourage you to take the time to read the article and visit the website for more information about the lives being touched right here in our County by Nurse-Family Partnership.

The New Year Brings New Leadership for Spartanburg Early Head Start

January 2, 2015

Ekky Foss, Spartanburg County Early Head Start Director, retires after 13 years of service to our County’s children.

After 13 years working with First Steps, Early Head Start Program Director Ekky Foss is retiring. We are pleased to announce that after an extensive search, Jeri Ross-Hayes has been selected to fill the position.

Prior to her work with First Steps, Ekky was the Director of Early Head Start under The United Way of the Piedmont. She also considers herself a lifelong educator having taught in Spartanburg School District 7 for many years as well as serving as principal of a school in France for 6 years. Her contributions to the Spartanburg Community will live on in future generations.

We thank Ekky for her many years of service to our agency and our community!

While Ekky will be greatly missed, we look forward to all the exciting things to come as Jeri moves forward with the program.

Cheers to a new year and new starts!